{"id":6011,"date":"2022-10-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-09T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6011"},"modified":"2022-08-31T18:45:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T23:45:45","slug":"barnabas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=6011","title":{"rendered":"Barnabas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It Is Good to Be Thankful: Appreciation makes the world a better place\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019ve been reading biblical accounts about Barnabas. His real name was Joseph, but was given the name Barnabas by the apostles which means \u201cSon of Encouragement.\u201d (Acts 4:36) What a lovely nickname! Synonyms for encouragement might be to bolster, alleviate, reassure, console, comfort, restore, strengthen, brighten, refresh, and inspire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those of us who have people like Barnabas in our lives are indeed fortunate. I\u2019ve had a few and I can tell you I\u2019m truly thankful for them. They have that rare ability to walk alongside you and make you feel like what you are doing has value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, Barnabas could discern beyond what others only saw on the surface. Perhaps that\u2019s why he had a crucial role in the apostles accepting Paul\u2019s conversion. Why would anyone believe Paul had accepted Jesus? After all, he had tried to destroy the early Christian movement. He aggressively persecuted believers, imprisoned them, and did everything he could to get them to renounce their faith. No way the apostles would ever believe Paul had changed. Yet, Barnabas had perceived the change in Paul and spoke up for him. (Acts 9:27) I\u2019m sure Paul found that very encouraging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Encouragement is so important because it goes straight to the heart of a person. In fact, in Latin \u201cen\u201d means to \u201cput into\u201d and \u201ccor\u201d means \u201cthe heart.\u201d Put into the heart. I\u2019ve heard it said that one word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than a hundred words of praise during a success. The Bible is full of scriptures exhorting us to encourage each other. (Ephesians 4:29, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 13:3, etc.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look at encouragers as Christ\u2019s representatives here on earth. Their mission is to \u201cput into the heart\u201d of people the thought that they are appreciated and that someone cares. When we are encouraged, it should inspire us to encourage others because encouragement is a two-way street\u2014a win-win scenario. Not only does it encourage the recipient, but the giver as well. (Romans 1:11-12)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord..<\/em>.\u201d ~ Psalms 92:1 (KJV)<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It Is Good to Be Thankful: Appreciation makes the world a better place\u2026 I\u2019ve been reading biblical accounts about Barnabas. His real name was Joseph, but was given the name Barnabas by the apostles which means \u201cSon of Encouragement.\u201d (Acts … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}